


Add Some Gold

by snakeofalltrades



Series: Eight Legs, Nine Lives [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Michelle Jones, Bisexual Peter Parker, Canon Compliant, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Field Trip, Fix-It of Sorts, Flash gets his ass handed to him, Gen, Inspired by Twitter, Irondad, Lots of Harley Keener, MJ Knows about Spider-Man, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark Coparenting Peter Parker, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Not your usual field trip fic, Peter Parker Angst, Peter Parker Joins the Avengers, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Peter Parker-centric, Peter's fake dating himself, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Rogue Avengers, Secret Identity, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Twitter, Would I die for Harley Keener, Yes I would, as per usual, field trip catastrophe, infinity war rewrite, kind of, not actually tho, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23983966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakeofalltrades/pseuds/snakeofalltrades
Summary: Peter's impending doom had come in the form of a yellow slip today during school. And of course his fucking Parker Luck got in the way. Because where was Midtown’s field trip to?Ah yes. Stark fucking Industries.(Or, the Stark Industries Field Trip trope with some twitter)
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Harley Keener & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Pepper Potts, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker & Shuri, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Shuri, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Spider-Man (fake)
Series: Eight Legs, Nine Lives [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1454914
Comments: 65
Kudos: 1368
Collections: Peter Parker Stories, Social Media Fics





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Когда всё пошло не так](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24471349) by [Cis_moll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cis_moll/pseuds/Cis_moll)



> If you’re new to this story, I’d highly recommend reading from part 1: Mr. Stark, I Think I Broke the Internet if you want anything to make sense. Obviously, though, as always, you do you :)
> 
> Parts 1 and 2 are are being translated to Russian by @cis_moll!
> 
> Anyway, this part of the whole story is what I first started writing when I hopped on the Marvel fic bandwagon because I loved the Field Trip to Stark Industries trope but they were all so similar plot-wise. So if you’ve read parts 1 and 2 (or looked through the tags) you’ll already have guessed that this really ain’t your typical Field Trip to SI fic. 
> 
> And this is dedicated once more to a charming Ant, who I miss very much because quarantine. ;) enjoy, lads

**_April 13, 2017_ **

The Avengers ✓ @TheAvengersOfficial 

After the final ratification of the new Sokovia Accords by the @UN, there will be a press conference next Friday, APRIL 21ST @StarkIndustries Tower to announce the newest member of our team — @SpiderManOfficial !

Stark Industries Official ✓ @StarkIndustries

_Retweeted @TheAvengersOfficial_

Pepper Potts ✓ @PPotts

_Retweeted @TheAvengersOfficial_

Tony Stark ✓ @TonyStark

_Retweeted @TheAvengersOfficial_

Spider-Man ✓ @SpiderManOfficial

_Retweeted @TheAvengersOfficial_

Beter @peterwithab

@SpiderManOfficial proud of you <3

Izzy @endless_diamond_sky_

@peterwithab @SpiderManOfficial we STAN proud and supportive boyfriends this is what i’m HERE for Spidey’s gonna finally be an AVENGER #spideyvenger #spideyparker #theaccords

Sofia Dolan @dolandolan

@SpiderManOfficial @peterwithab yall TOO cute! Also congrats spidey on becoming an Avenger!!! #spideyvenger #avengers #peterparker #spideyparker

Harley Keener @tonystarkbrokeintomygarage

@SpiderManOfficial can you convince your boyfriend to let me meet you please 

Harley Keener @tonystarkbrokeintomygarage

@SpiderManOfficial @TonyStark when are you gonna let me join the avengers old man

Beter @peterwithab

@tonystarkbrokeintomygarage come to NY and then we’ll see ;)

Harley Keener @tonystarkbrokeintomygarage

@peterwithab that’s arrangeable

Tony Stark ✓ @TonyStark

@tonystarkbrokeintomygarage Call me, kid.

Dudebros Suck @destroyeroffratboys

@SpiderManOfficial @peterwithab #spideyparker !! Im so glad youre back to posting plz give us more contenttttt #spiderman #peterparker

Chris is that a Weed @imcallingthePollicee

@SpiderManOfficial CONGRATS ON BECOMING AN AVENGER YESSSSS #spideyvenger #ftw

Kelly O’Brien @obrienlakes

@peterwithab WE LOVE SPIDEYPARKER YOU GUYS ARE MY FAVES!!! Uwu #spideyparker #otp

Pizza Police @torreofpizzaa

@peterwithab @SpiderManOfficial is no one else really curious about this @tonystarkbrokeintomygarage Harley guy and why he knows Stark and Peter Parker #spideyparker #spiderman

Yeehaw @yoinksyeetandyikes

@peterwithab @SpiderManOfficial i love you guys BICONS #spideyparker #spideyvenger

_See 304k more replies >> _

\---

**_April 17, 2017 -_ ** **MONDAY**

May Parker wasn’t one for shouting. But this time, Peter had _really_ gone and fucked up. 

“You mean to tell me you somehow didn’t realize this?” Peter winced at his aunt’s yell, the sound too loud as it reverberated through his suit. “You mean to tell me that somehow this entire… _debacle_ slipped your mind and now you’re in trouble? I told you you’d have to be careful with the whole Avenger thing. Peter, I swear to God… ” she huffed on the other end of the line. 

Peter paced up and down the side of a shabby brick building in Queens, in an alleyway secluded enough that no one could spot him or hear him as he talked to Aunt May through the phone in his Spider-Man mask. His steps were quick, frantic, enough that anyone who walked by could tell Spider-Man was most likely pretty agitated about something.

Which he was. _God_ , was he an idiot. “I got the form today, May! They hadn’t said anything about there being a field trip until today!” That was only partially true. There had been whispers going around Midtown’s halls for well over a few weeks that there was a field trip coming up, but no one had known where or when it would be.

Also, it wasn’t like Peter was particularly worried about a school field trip right now. Between the whole Accords ratification thing, being back on social media as Spidey _and_ himself now, and trying to keep up appearances with their relationship — not even including actual schoolwork, the internship, and swinging around New York as Spider-Man — well, he’d been more than a bit busy. 

But the field trip came up today during school. (As if the last one to Oscorp hadn’t been bad enough, with the whole spider bite situation.) And of course his fucking _Parker Luck_ got in the way. Because where was Midtown’s field trip to?

 _Ah yes._ Stark _fucking_ Industries. 

No one had known it until today, when their teachers had passed out field trip information slips and permission forms. “This is due Wednesday,” Mr. Harrington had said to his class. “If you don’t bring it in, you don’t get to go. And make sure to read through all the information! There’s some dangerous things we’ll be looking at, and —” 

The bell rang. Only Peter’s enhanced hearing had caught the end of Mr. Harrington’s sentence, through the sudden commotion of students packing their bags and racing to get out of the door. “— I can’t lose a student on this field trip. _Not again._ ”

Peter had left the classroom with the rest of his classmates, reluctantly carrying a yellow field trip form out with him. He’d told Mr. Harrington — and the rest of his teachers, as a matter of fact — that he wouldn’t be at school this Friday. He’d told them _weeks_ ago. 

May sighed through the phone. “Obviously, you’re not going to school that day anyway, because you already talked to all your teachers about not being there. I’ll call you out, like I did with Geneva. But I’ve already received several calls from the admin that you’ve missed too much class this year, Peter.” Peter could almost feel her tapping her knees or the table with her fingers, something she did constantly when in a state of worry or conflict. “Well, you’re gonna have to talk to Tony about it. And your teachers, to make sure you get through the year like everyone else. As much as I don’t like it.”

Peter sighed back. “Okay. I’ll swing by today before I come home.”

“Seven p.m., mister. No later,” May told him, before adding. “I love you, Peter.”

“Love you too, May. I’m sorry. I’ll see you later.” He didn’t have to ask Karen to end the call because May hung up a second later. “Looks like it’s just you and me, Karen.”

“Would you like me to alert Mr. Stark that you are coming by today?”

“Yeah.” He might as well warn him, given that today wasn’t an internship day. Now with Peter back on social media and the whole Geneva UN thing done and over with, the Internet had once more calmed down about the whole debacle that had been Peter and Spider-Man. Well — as calm as Twitter could get. #spideyparker had been in the top five trending hashtags for the past three weeks. Peter had gotten used to looking less through Twitter (and Instagram) because the number of tweets directed at him through both his own and Spidey’s platform had gotten slightly insane.

It had taken the better part of a month, but the United Nations had finally completely ratified all of the new amendments to the Sokovia Accords. And the rogue Avengers, after being pardoned, had made the trip to the Netherlands to receive their formal sentences. Two years of house arrest for all but Black Widow, who only received one year. They were all holed up at the compound in upstate New York (minus Ant-Man and Hawkeye, who, as far as Peter knew, were serving out house arrest at their own houses) — not that Peter had been there since he’d come back from Switzerland half a month ago. But the ratification of the new Accords meant Peter (well, Spider-Man, technically) was going to be announced as an Avenger to the whole world. 

When was this going to happen? Ah yes. Friday. This Friday. The day the rest of Peter’s class would be taking a trip to Stark Industries. They’d get a special treat — an inside look at the press conference announcing Spider-Man. As if being out in front of that many cameras, albeit in his suit, wasn’t enough pressure already. Now he’d have his whole class watching too. 

“Should I plot the fastest course to Stark Tower, Peter?” Karen asked in her familiar mechanical voice.

“You read my mind, Karen. Are you sure Mr. Stark didn’t update you with some sort of telepathic tech?”

“You’re very funny.” The AI sounded like she was holding in a laugh. “I’m still working on the new photoshopped pictures.”

He’d almost forgotten about that. Despite not wanting to check socials, he was as active as he could, posting pictures and tweets multiple times a week for the entertainment of the masses. It was imperative, Pepper and MJ had _both_ separately told him, to keep up this schtick now that Spider-Man was getting involved in Avengers business. 

Not for the last time, Peter sighed as he slung his backpack over his shoulders. He shot out a web and leapt off of the building, afternoon sun overhead as he swung towards Stark Tower. 

\---

**_April 10, 2017 -_ ** **ONE WEEK AGO**

Peter didn’t look up from his table in the lab, where he was working on a mechanism to release his webs faster, when Mr. Stark walked in. He’d been trying to reduce the friction by implementing different metals into the webshooter, and was getting close to finding the right combination. 

“Hey kid, have a moment to spare?” Mr. Stark walked over to Peter, ruffling his hair and sitting down across from him, sipping from what was likely his fourteenth or fifteenth cup of coffee that day. 

Peter retracted his hands from the mechanism. “Yeah, sure, Mr. Stark. What’s up?”

“Kid, how many times do I have to say it? It’s just Tony, k?” He set down his mug and paused for a second. Just as Peter wondered if he was going to say anything at all, Mr. Stark spoke up. “The Accords are totally ratified.”

“What? Really?”

“Just got the call from Ross. Well, after sending him to voicemail maybe fifteen times. It’s not public news yet, so don’t go and rile up Twitter.” He looked at Peter with sarcastic pleading eyes. “But they’re calling for any new Avengers to be announced formally within the month. Pep’s already setting up a press conference.”

“You mean… Spider-Man. Getting ‘knighted’ as an Avenger?”

Mr. Stark raised an eyebrow. “If you mean knighting as in—” he tapped Peter on both shoulders with a straightened arm “— no. There’s not a ceremony or anything. Just getting major press and reporters to cover the story. _And,_ ” he added, “this means you finally get to start training. At the compound. Whenever May allows it.”

Peter nodded, failing to hold back a huge smile.

“Well then. You’re not gonna reject me this time, are you?”

“What? Reject you, Mr. Stark?”

“Like how you did last fall? I invited you to join the team and you were all, ‘sorry Mr. Stark, I’m too busy to join the Avengers because school is more important than saving the world’.”

Peter snorted. “Hey! No, I’m not going to reject you. And listen, I thought it was a test.”

“Mmhmm. Okay. Either way, you’ll get to train and start joining the team on some bigger missions besides your small friendly neighborhood Spider-Manning. Sounds like a deal?”

“Yeah! Yeah, Mr. Stark. I mean, I know all that. I was in Geneva.”

“Don’t smartass me, kid.” His lips twitched, though.

“So, what about this press conference? How much do I need to speak? Do I need to set up a speech — I can set up a speech, MJ would probably like to help—”

“Whoa, whoa. That’s what I came to talk about. Pepper’s thinking about setting it up on a weekend, so that you don’t miss school.” Tony clapped his hands together.

Peter chewed that over, and a thought occurred to him. “Actually, we should do it on a weekday.”

Tony looked at him, his face neutrally confused. “Huh?”

“Well, if it’s on a weekday, then people might not think it’s a high schooler.”

“And what about your school? They’re gonna notice you’re not there.”

“Mr. Stark, they didn’t notice when I went to Switzerland, and Spider-Man was all over the news. Plus, I can have May call in. I can say I was required at my internship because it was a really important press conference?” Peter offered. 

Tony shrugged, the edges of his lips curling up again as he raised his mug of coffee again. “You said it, kid, not me. Although everyone’s gonna think you’re just making time to hang out with your boyfriend Spider-Man.” Peter opened his mouth to protest, face going red, but he was interrupted. “Now, how’s it going with those webshooters?”

\---

Spider-Man ✓ @SpiderManOfficial

What’s up NYC! There’s gonna be a really cool press conference coming up concerning me and the Avengers. Stay tuned to find out when!

  
  


\---

**_April 18, 2017 -_ ** **TUESDAY**

_Group chat: Alas, nerds_

_8:30 am_

_Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ so what’s this I’ve been hearing about a press conference and a field trip?

 _MyStEriOuS JuVeNiLe:_ Peter got himself into a mess again.

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ I did nOT

 _MyStEriOuS JuVeNiLe:_ Mmhmm. Okay.

 _Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ gonna explain or am I gonna have to figure it out all on my own

 _eddard STARK the poor lad:_ we have a field trip to Stark Tower this Friday!!! ITS GONNA BE SO COOL

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ ned ur acting like you’ve never been to the tower

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ the problem is we’re also having the spiderman conference that day

 _Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ that sounds like a DISASTER

 _Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ gimme a second i’m going to steal Tchallas ship

 _eddard STARK the poor lad:_ you know

 _eddard STARK the poor lad:_ i forget far too often that youre the literal princess of wakanda

 _eddard STARK the poor lad:_ wow

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ shuri keep your ass in wakanda

 _Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ bullshit. I’m coming over there, Broken White Boy Number Two

 _MyStEriOuS JuVeNiLe:_ As much as I’d like to agree with you so I can beat your ass at MarioKart, I’m gonna agree with Peter. This is already disastrous. Not that I won’t be using that to my advantage.

 _Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ MJ I thought you enjoyed my company 

_Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ you must fear how much I’ll destroy you at mario kart

 _MyStEriOuS JuVeNiLe:_ I’d never. 

_the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ if you write another letter to buzzfeed ‘exposing’ me, i WILL Sue you

 _MyStEriOuS JuVeNiLe:_ No, no Buzzfeed. :-)

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ ned

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ she made the smiley face ned

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ help me im going to die

 _eddard STARK the poor lad:_ mj there’s not many things i hate in this world but the fact that you add noses to your smiley faces like that? Is one of them

 _Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ exCUSE you! noses on smiley faces are the pinnacle of texting

 _MyStEriOuS JuVeNiLe:_ Glad you agree.

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ mj whatever you’re planning don’t

 _MyStEriOuS JuVeNiLe:_ :-)

 _eddard STARK the poor lad:_ peter it won’t be that bad. Its not like youre revealing your identity to everyone at the press conference

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ no but it wont b suspicious that i wont be on the field trip but will be at stark industries doing my internship that day?

 _eddard STARK the poor lad:_ im rolling my eyes at you right now

 _Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ if you don’t remember, Parker, you did go to Geneva when everyone knew Spidey was going and your whole school was still fooled

 _Her Royal Grace, the Vine Goddess:_ this is a mini absence in comparison

 _eddard STARK the poor lad:_ exactly. Her highness speaks the truth

 _the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the vine:_ if i die I’m blaming y’all.

  
\---

**_April 19, 2017 -_ ** **WEDNESDAY**

“Please bring up your field trip forms! Remember, if you don’t have it, you won’t be allowed to go,” Mr. Harrington said. 

It hadn’t missed Flash that Peter didn’t have a yellow slip signed. While Harrington was busy collecting slips, he made his way over to Peter and Ned’s desk, sitting on it and leaning towards Peter. “Whaddup, Parker? Not going because you’re afraid you’ll get exposed? I knew that internship was fake. I mean, who would want you? Loser Penis Parker.” Peter opened his mouth to argue, but Flash continued. “You’re gonna miss the press conference! I heard it’s supposed to be a very cool announcement. Too bad you’re a pussy and a liar.”

Surprisingly, MJ was the one who spoke up, turning around from where she sat next to Betty Brant at the table in front of them. “Fuck off, Flash. You’re just jealous that you’re not good enough for a Stark internship.” 

Flash scoffed, and Peter rolled his eyes, tired of his antics, as he walked away in time for Harrington to start the lecture. He nodded in gratitude to MJ, only to find her turned back around already, reading her book and paying absolutely no attention to Harrington. 

Ned turned to him, whispering. “I know that you have to go for the press conference, because, _duh_ , but it still sucks that you’re not gonna be there. I won’t have anyone to gush to about all the cool tech we see! I mean, it’s Stark Industries! Hopefully you’ll get to shut Flash up for once.”

Peter smiled, swallowing the nervousness that bubbled up as he thought of his whole class standing there, watching, as Tony introduced him to the world as Spider-Man, the Avenger. He’d already told Ned about it, but his best friend was too excited about it to notice Peter’s anxious expression. “Ned, you’ll see me at the conference.”

Ned raised his eyebrows, unamused. “Yeah, but I can’t exactly go up and talk to you!”

“You know Spider-Man though, remember?”

“Right, still.”

“And I have a new suit. Just wait ‘til you see it.”

“You _what?!_ ”

\---

_Text from: cowboy_

_cowboy:_ ok but hear me out

 _peter-man:_ yes?

 _cowboy:_ what if i came to new york for the summer

 _peter-man:_ that’d be WACK

 _cowboy:_ tony’s stubborn but he loves me i’m gonna manage it

 _peter-man:_ ILL CONVINCE HIM

 _peter-man:_ wait fr you’re coming to NY?

 _cowboy:_ I think so? :D

Peter’s heart raced at the thought. He didn’t know why.

  
  


\---

**_April 20, 2017 -_ ** **THURSDAY**

“Kid, stop fidgeting. You’re gonna be okay,” said Tony, trying to ignore the repetitive motions Peter was going through across the table. _Scratch temple. Clench fists. Resigned sigh. Repeat._ “It’s a brief introduction, a few questions, and no one will even see your face!”

Peter kept fidgeting. 

_Scratch temple. Clench fists. Resigned sigh._

“Peter, don’t worry about it,” said Pepper calmly, seeing the distress on Peter’s face. “If anyone’s an expert at PR conferences, it’s me.” Mr. Stark looked at her, eyes wide, offended.

She scoffed at him. “Tony. Admit it, you’re really awful at remaining calm and following the plan. You’d just pull something out of nowhere to surprise the news reporters.”

“Who, me? Never.”

Peter unclenched his fists for the millionth time. “Okay, but what if something happens and I get revealed? My _entire class_ is going to be there. What if they recognize my voice? Or they’re like, huh, where’s Peter? Or what if —”

Tony cut him off. “Pete, you’re killing me. No one will recognize your voice, okay? Don’t play with what ifs, it rarely ends well. It’s gonna be _okay_ , kiddo.”

Peter stayed quiet, obviously not wanting to worry either of them. Tony knew the feeling — having irrational fears and worries, not being able to help but wonder what might happen. He just dealt with it using cockiness. Peter needed a different approach. Tony and Pepper, neither of them fooled by Peter’s silence, shot each other a look. Pepper raised her eyebrow at Tony as Peter threw his head back on the couch and crossed his arms, closing his eyes. 

Tony watched as she sat down by Peter on the couch, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. “Peter, let’s go over what’s gonna happen tomorrow again. I think it’ll help you.”

Peter blew out a breath but didn’t sit up, keeping his eyes closed as he brought an arm up to rest on his forehead. “Okay, Ms. Potts.”

Pepper smiled at the formality of the name. “You’ll arrive at Stark Industries as Peter Parker, swipe in with your card and head up. You’ll be in the back at first, with a couple of other people, so you’ll have your mask on at all times. The press conference is gonna start at eleven, sharp.”

“Then you guys make some announcements, the whole team will be out there, and you’ll welcome everyone and thank them for coming.” Peter had heard the detailed sequence of events what felt like a thousand times, but he didn’t snap the words back at Pepper. Tony smiled to himself. The kid knew Pepper was only trying to help him, and so he kept the aggression out of his tone. Well. It _was_ Peter Parker. He was already better than Tony in so many ways. 

“That’s right. And then, when we announce that we have a new Avenger, the door will open and you’ll walk out. There’s gonna be a lot of flashing lights — paparazzi, you know the drill — and a lot of noise, which is why it’s good that you’ll have your mask to filter out most of the sensory stuff. Don’t want our new Avenger passing out from sensory overload, now do we?” Pepper asked lightly, a tinge of humor in her voice as she poked Peter’s shoulder.

His lip twitched upwards, eyes still closed. Tony felt a piece of his heart melt at their easy interaction. Peter had only met Pepper after May found out about Spider-Man, but she had never failed to be kind to him, despite how she would flare up and yell at Tony himself. It took a certain type of person to be CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world, incredibly organized and responsible, and on top of all that, capable of keeping even Tony Stark on his toes. Tony thought absently back to the time Peter’s friend MJ had met Pepper. They’d got along too well right off the bat.

“You’re going to get asked a lot of questions, by both media reporters and also by the general public. And I’m sure your own class is going to want to ask questions.” Pepper sighed as Peter’s eyebrows furrowed at that. “Now, there’s no one way to get ready to answer a ton of questions, but… pretend you’re the teacher, and call on some people. Well, I’ll most likely be doing that. And then after a few questions — just a few, it’ll take only a couple of minutes — you can head out the back, where you won’t get bombarded by a ton of media and journalists trying to catch a scoop. You can change and head up to the labs.”

“What should I say if they ask how old I am?” Peter asked. Tony could already see that he was feeling better. 

Tony spoke up. “That’s probably one of the questions you’re most likely to get asked, kid. But you should probably say something along the lines of ‘That’s irrelevant. Secret identity, remember?’” He raised his voice to imitate Peter, who smiled at the impression. “See? Easy. You got it, Pete."

“Exactly. And we’re all going to be there by your side in case anything happens. And May will be standing off to the side, pretending to be part of the public. She’ll be there the whole time too.”

Tony could see Peter starting to relax. “Thanks, Ms. Potts. I’m sorry I’m so worked up about it, I just… don’t want anything to go wrong.”

“Like I said, kid. You’ll be okay. And it’s only maybe half an hour, at the most. Then you can change and head up to the labs and intercept your class — or not.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah.”

Tony looked down at his watch subconsciously and whistled. “Anyway, it’s getting late. Happy’s waiting downstairs, ready to drive you home. Try to avoid Spider-Manning for tonight, okay, kid? I don’t want Aunt May to come for my head.” He laughed at Tony’s look of concern. 

“Okay. Thanks, Mr. Stark. Thanks, Ms. Potts.”

“See you tomorrow, kid!” Tony called after him as Peter grabbed his backpack and walked out of the lab. As soon as he was gone, he turned to Pepper and pulled her in by the waist.

“He’s a sweet kid.”

“Yeah, he is.” 

“And he’s not irrational. So I know we won’t be getting any surprises tomorrow.” Pepper smirked as she looked up at Tony, eyes gleaming devilishly. 

“I’m offended, Miss Potts. As if.”

Pepper leaned in and kissed him. “Still. I’ve got my eye on you,” she mumbled against him, pulling away. “Don’t do anything stupid tomorrow. We both know you’ve got the tendency for it.”

“Mmmmhmmm. Hey, FRI, when was the last time I—”

“ _Tony.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all y’all who are back after waiting a month for this part, thanks for your patience and for sticking with me! April 2020 was absolutely crazy but after finals next week I'll finally breathe again. Thanks for all your kudos and comments and I hope y'all are doing well in quarantine and staying healthy.
> 
> bonus: comment what you think the title for this part means ;)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It felt like a lifetime ago when he’d been Peter Parker, the nobody. Someone the media didn’t know or care about. How in the world had he become an Internet personality — an influencer, as the newest tabloids were calling him — in so little time? His life had been totally flipped upside down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello again! Thank you for all your wonderful comments and kudos.
> 
> This chapter’s a little different, because I decided it’d be interesting to tune into MJ’s perspective. Enjoy :)

**_April 21, 2017 -_ ** **FRIDAY**

_Group chat: brainless idiots + MJ_

_8:03 am_

_guy in the chair:_ We’ll see u later today right?

 _guy in the chair:_ this is gonna be awesome, dude

 _peter-man:_ yeah, I’ll be in the labs

 _peter-man:_ yall gotta tell me what labs the tour guide’s gonna take you to

 _guy in the chair:_ yea I will, np

 _guy in the chair:_ are the other Avengers gonna be there?

 _peter-man:_ nah, they’re under house arrest

 _MJ:_ Truly, a tragedy.

 _guy in the chair:_ awww no. But at least we’ve got spidey 

_peter-man:_ ;)

Peter closed his text with Ned and MJ as he got out of Happy’s car and entered Stark Tower through the back entrance. It was early, only eight in the morning, but Peter figured it would probably be best if he could avoid any news reporters or people who might try to take pictures of him entering Stark Tower and had asked Happy to pick him up early. As it was, he’d woken up this morning at four a.m., so restless and wracked with nerves that he broke Aunt May’s rule of _no spider-manning between one a.m. and six a.m._

He’d swung around Queens for two hours, the cold air whipping against his face, glad to find the neighborhood quiet for once. The lack of crimes had soothed his nerves somewhat, but another part of his brain couldn’t help but think that it was the calm before the storm. Maybe he would feel better if he’d actually gotten the chance to stop some criminals. Peter had returned to the small apartment around six a.m., right before May woke up (for the first time in several weeks, she hadn’t had a night shift the previous night) and tried to pretend he hadn’t been up for hours already.

Now, he entered the skyscraper, glad to find the lobby as of now still devoid of too many people. The only ones inside were a few other interns who Peter identified as from the computer science department, drinking coffee in the corner, some janitors sweeping up the main lobby and, as always, security guards. 

Peter walked up to the security section, showed them his employee ID card, and breathed out a sigh of relief when they let him through without making him go through the scanner. FRIDAY spoke from above him when he entered the elevator.

“Welcome back, Peter. Mr. Stark has been alerted about your arrival. He asks that you head up to the lab,” she said.

“Thanks, FRIDAY.” Peter didn’t have to ask which lab. He entered the elevator and swiped his card before hitting the button clearly marked 85. The elevator whirred, carrying him up. When it dinged open, he made his way to the private lab where he most often worked with Mr. Stark, designing improvements for the Spider-Man suit. His webshooters were still out on the table from last night, along with a beaker of half-formed web fluid. 

Peter quickly stirred the liquid in the beaker as he passed, noting the greenish tinge that it had taken on. He’d have to look through that new formula in more detail later.

As he was jotting down some notes and dropping the now-sealed beaker, along with the webshooters, into the first drawer, Mr. Stark walked in. “You’re here early, kid.”

Peter mumbled something that sounded vaguely like, “Wanted to avoid the cameras.”

Mr. Stark hummed, eyes still half-closed and a mug of straight black coffee clasped in one hand as he made his way through the lab. Peter was surprised to see that he was already dressed for the press conference, his favored sweats and oil-stained t-shirt replaced with a crisp suit. 

“Yeah. Although you’re gonna have plenty of cameras aimed at you today, kid.” Mr. Stark gave him a wink with one tired eye. “FRI, can you bring out the Iron Spider suit?”

One of the panels of the back wall flipped to reveal the same suit Mr. Stark had shown him the first time he’d offered to make him an Avenger. Apart from the usual blue and red, the suit was embellished with lines of gold. _Iron Spider._ He liked it. And on top of that, it was metal, just like the Iron Man suit, and the eyes _glowed_. 

“It’s so cool, Mr. Stark.”

“That’s not all.” Mr. Stark walked up to the display and reached around to the back, seemingly pressing something. The suit folded up until it was the size of Peter’s palm. Peter’s eyes popped, all his worries and concerns vanishing for the time being as he took in the suit. 

Peter let out a small gasp. “Whoa, what’s that?”

He smiled at Peter’s eagerness. “Nanotech.”

Peter let out a deep breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in as Mr. Stark pushed the small metal square into his palm. He turned it over in his hand, inspecting the suit.

“I’m working on making it so it can be converted into a watch, because that’ll be easier to carry around and hide, but a watch is a slightly more complex figure than a square,” Tony explained through a yawn. “It can take the place of your current one.” He pointed at the watch on Peter’s hand, the one he’d given him before everything with Geneva as a precaution for the media attention. “I hope you like it, kid.”

“Oh my god, Mr. Stark. Are you kidding? I _love_ it!”

Mr. Stark smiled at him in that reserved, gentle way that Peter knew was saved specifically for him. “Alright. Well, you can tinker around and check it out for a while, I have some things to do to get ready for the conference. And I should try and wake up a bit more.”

Peter folded over the square, finding a tiny button on the bottom. He pressed it, and the suit unfolded itself once more.

“You’ll have to charge it. It’s electric, but plugging cables into it won’t do it, because it’s not an arc reactor. There’s a case in here somewhere, made specifically for charging the nanoparticles.” Mr. Stark took the suit from Peter and put it in a glass box. It began whirring, and suddenly the suit _disintegrated_ , swirling around in the box like dust but staying together enough that you could make out the form of the mask on the suit. 

“That’s amazing, Mr. Stark!” After pressing a few buttons, the suit re-formed and Mr. Stark handed it back to Peter. 

“Go wild, kid. Just don’t destroy it. And for _god’s sake_ don’t hack into it again.”

“That would be Ned, Mr. Stark.”

“Whatever, Pete.” He turned around and left, coffee mug in hand, smiling fondly as he ruffled Peter’s hair. 

Peter set to inspecting the suit as soon as Mr. Stark had left, web fluid all but forgotten. It was, admittedly, much easier to put it on than the spandex suit, and smelled inexplicably like a new car inside. And despite being entirely metal, it was still fairly easy to move in. Not to mention that he wouldn’t have to dodge bullets anymore.

But even as excited as Peter was with the new suit — the Iron Spider — he could help but feel like he didn’t belong in it. He wasn’t Iron Man. He was just a kid from Queens. Just Spider-Man.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t gonna wear the suit, though. At least for the press conference. He’d probably keep wearing the spandex for friendly neighborhood Spider-Manning. The Iron Spider suit felt like something to be left for… Avengers work.

_Damn. I’m really about to become an Avenger._

Peter felt like it had only been minutes that he’d spent inspecting every single thing about his new suit, but when he looked at his clock as Mr. Stark came back in (looking much more awake than he had an hour ago), it was suddenly 9:15. 

“You want any breakfast? There’s some cereal, or toast, in the kitchen if you want it.”

Peter’s stomach rumbled, and he knew it wouldn’t work if he tried to lie and say he wasn’t. Mr. Stark knew all too well how Peter’s metabolism could be. 

“Yeah, I’ll go get some food, I haven’t eaten in a few hours. This suit is amazing, Mr. Stark, I don’t know how to thank you—”

“You don’t have to thank me, kid. You deserve it.”

Peter, not thinking twice about it, rushed up and hugged him, forgetting about the imposter syndrome that had started to set in. At first, he thought Mr. Stark wasn’t going to hug him back. The man had stiffened as soon as Peter touched him. But then, he let out a gentle breath, like he’d been holding it back for a second, and wrapped his arms around Peter. 

“You’ll make an amazing Avenger, kid. You’re the hero we never knew we needed.”

Peter grinned so hard his face hurt as he pulled back. “Thank you so much, Mr. Stark.”

“Alright, now, don’t get mushy on me. Go eat some cereal before your body gives out.” He ruffled Peter’s hair again. “Hey, how’re we doing on nerves? Do I need to bring in Pepper?”

In all honesty, Peter had forgotten entirely about how nervous he was for the press conference in the hour he’d spent fooling around with the new suit. “No, I’m… I’m good. Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

\---

In all fairness, MJ had to give Flash credit for being so damn persistent. No one quite knew why he seemingly had it out for Peter 24/7/365, but he was nothing if not persevering. 

All morning already, he’d talked everyone’s ears off about “where’s Peter?”, “see? I told you he was lying about the stark internship”, and, as always, “poor Penis Parker.” Honestly, she had no idea why Flash was so insistent on talking about Peter even when he wasn’t around. It was like the guy had a crush on him.

Hm. Now there was a thought to consider.

MJ brushed the thought off and focused back on her book. Thankfully, she had sat herself in the back of the bus, far away from Flash’s nonstop chatter. Ned was sitting a few rows up, with Betty (an interesting but not entirely odd pairing, she thought). Despite Stark Tower being only ten minutes away, Midtown had insisted they take buses for the field trip. MJ suspected it was in large part due to the paparazzi that still hung around the school boundaries daily, hoping to not-so-subtly catch a picture of Peter Parker as he left school. Not creepy at all.

(They’d been wildly successful, despite the multiple rules that had been established to try and maintain the privacy of Midtown’s students, mostly at the behest of Stark Industries. Peter’s face was all over the place, her and Ned oftentimes with him.)

Maybe it was for the best that Peter hadn’t come on this field trip. Although, MJ knew, Peter had been freaking out over the press conference for the last week. So much so that he’d been jumpy all of Wednesday, both at Decathlon and then when they hung out at Ned’s house later that night, and not even working on the massive Millenium Falcon LEGO model with Ned (while MJ sat on the beanbag in the corner, supposedly drawing but mostly watching them) had calmed him.

It’d be fine, though. And maybe Flash would finally shut his mouth if they got to see Peter working in one of the labs. 

MJ hadn’t realized she’d essentially spent the whole trip to Stark Tower rereading the same two lines on page 378 of her book as she speculated about the field trip until the bus stopped.

Of course, it wasn’t like she hadn’t been here before. Nothing new. 

As they got off the bus, Ned wandered over to her. “Have you heard from Peter?”

She shook her head. 

“He’ll be fine, right? It’s gonna be cool.”

“Ned, quit mother-henning. Peter’s fine.”

Ned rolled his eyes at her and followed the rest of the class into the building. MJ sighed resignedly before packing her book away. Maybe she could read during lunch. 

The lobby was absolutely packed when they walked in, reporters and journalists with their cameramen milling everywhere like ants over a sugar cube. Many of them were already broadcasting live, microphones up and somehow catching their voice over the cacophony in the room. 

“Oh my god, is that —” Ned was pointing at a group of people on the other side of the lobby filming themselves. They looked vaguely familiar.

“Who?” she deadpanned.

“That’s a group of YouTube stars. Vlogging. How’d they get in here?”

MJ shrugged. “I doubt Ms. Potts would want YouTube vloggers to be part of the publicity for this press conference. They probably snuck in.”

Ned gave her a signature shocked look. “They’re wearing badges!”

Sure enough, each of them had plastic red badges hanging off cords around their necks. Maybe MJ had underestimated the importance of an official Avengers-announcement press conference. Then again, it wasn’t like she’d ever cared much about the Avengers. 

The Midtown class crowded into a corner as directed by Mr. Harrington. “I’m gonna go find the tour guide and check us in. You guys stay here. Don’t wander off!”

Of course, as soon as he’d walked off in the direction of the front desk (which looked overwhelmed by people clamoring to get into the press conference), Flash started walking over to the group of YouTube stars. 

Cindy called out to him. “Don’t, Flash! Mr. Harrington told us to stay here.”

MJ didn’t get to see if Flash had listened, though, because suddenly she felt a tug at her arm. Someone had pulled her away from the group.

“Hey, let go!” 

She yanked her arm away, only to see a reporter standing there, camera and all, giving her the fakest smile she’d ever seen. Ned, who’d also been grabbed, gave her an uncertain look.

But before she could say anything, the reporter opened her mouth. “Hey, you’re Peter Parker’s close friends, aren’t you?” The woman’s blue eyes searched MJ’s, as if looking for the answer there. “Michelle, the one who wrote to Buzzfeed about #spideyparker? And Ned, correct?”

“Uhm. Uh, yeah?” Ned said, before MJ could stop him. It felt like her brain had short-circuited — something totally unfamiliar and jarring.

“Oh, perfect!” There was that fake smile again. “What are you two doing at Stark Industries today? Here for the press conference? And where’s Peter? We imagine he’d be here to support his boyfriend, Spider-Man —”

MJ’s brain seemed to come back to her, though, and she cut the reporter off mid-sentence, trying to inflict her every word with the same professional seriousness she’d seen Pepper Potts use a million times. “We’re here for a field trip, so we should probably get back to our class, which you so rudely yanked us away from. Peter isn’t here right now, he’s actually trying to _avoid_ the cameras.” The cameraman was still rolling, having caught her every word. Good. “Have a nice day.” 

And without another word or even a smile, she tugged Ned back towards the class, not looking back. There’d probably be several news articles out in a few hours about how rude she was. 

Ah, well. Simply another day in the life of Michelle Jones, friend of Peter Parker. 

\---

“MJ, that was so smooth, how’d you _do_ that?” Ned’s head was spinning from everything that had just happened. For a second, he’d gotten freaked that he might have to actually talk on live camera, and then — bam! MJ to the rescue. 

Her tone was flat as she responded, “Meh, it was nothing. I should have told them to fuck off, actually.”

“I’m impressed. I could never.”

MJ opened her mouth to speak, eyes darting around to ensure no other reporters were about to attack them, but whatever she was about to say got cut off as Mr. Harrington spoke up to introduce their tour guide.

“Everyone, settle down. I know there’s a lot of commotion right now, but — where’s Flash?” 

Abe spoke up from the back. “He went to talk to the YouTube vloggers, Mr. Harrington.”

“Oh, crap. Ok, um, this is Sarah, she’s going to be our tour guide today. Sarah, could you introduce yourself while I go get our last student?”

The tour guide named Sarah stepped in front of the class and gave them all a big smile. Ned wondered if Peter knew her. 

“Alright, hey Midtown! I’m Sarah Rodney, and I’ll be your tour guide for today. I work in the PR department here at Stark Industries. You guys are super lucky to be doing your tour today, because you’ll get to get a VIP sneak peek at the big press conference that’s going on at eleven! I doubt anyone here doesn’t know about it, but in case someone has been living under a rock for the last few weeks, the press conference is going to introduce Spider-Man as the newest member of the Avengers team!”

There were a few murmurs that went around the class at that. Betty clutched Ned’s arm excitedly. “Ohhh, I’m so excited!! Do you think we’ll get to see Peter at the conference?”

“Uh,” Ned started, catching MJ’s raised-eyebrow look from the corner of his eye, “no, no, I think he told me he’s gonna be backstage.”

Betty nodded, watching Sarah. “Yeah, that makes sense. Otherwise he’d probably get swarmed by reporters.” She shook her head sadly. “Poor Peter.”

Ned was saved from responding as Sarah kept going with her spiel, just as Mr. Harrington dragged a protesting Flash back to the group. 

“I was just about to get a signature —”

Sarah cut him off. “And you must be Flash. I’ll warn you ahead of time — all of you — that wandering off, especially when we get to some of the higher security levels, is not tolerated at Stark Industries. Am I clear?”

Everyone nodded. Flash scoffed.

God, sometimes Ned wanted to just pummel the guy. Not that he’d ever actually do it.

“On that note, just a few more ground rules. In general, unless I give you guys the go-ahead, there’s no touching of gear, exhibits, or anything in the labs. You can take as many pictures as you want, since we won’t be seeing any classified stuff today. And in general, be respectful of employees and property. Hopefully I won’t have to emphasize any of these things to you guys like I have to with elementary school groups.” She paused, giving Flash a look. He didn’t notice, too busy looking at the crowd of people trying to get in. 

“We’re going to have a lot more people in the building this morning than usual due to the conference. First thing’s first, we’re going to get you all checked in and through security.” She held up a white badge. “You need to keep these badges on at all times today. You might notice that there’s different color badges. White is general tour group access, which is what you all have. There’s plenty more — the red badges you’ll see today are for press conference access — and I can explain those if you have questions.”

Sarah held up a roster and called them all up one by one to give them their badges. Ned almost missed when she called him up, wondering what level access Peter had. It had to be pretty high to get to the penthouse, didn’t it?

She led the class over to a set of scanners in the back of the lobby. Several security guards were stationed around it, making it look like airport security. Every time Ned had been to the Tower with Peter, they’d just let him through without going through the scanners. Huh.

“When you go through the scanner, you’ll hear a voice.” Sarah went through, scanning her blue badge as she did, and the voice Ned instantly recognized as F.R.I.D.A.Y. rung out. 

“Sarah Rodney, level five access.”

“That’s F.R.I.D.A.Y., one of many AIs created by Mr. Stark himself. She runs the building and keeps everything secure, and as a reminder, her cameras are stationed everywhere throughout the building for security purposes. Alright, who’s next?”

Flash pushed his way to the front and held up his badge to the scanner before walking through. 

“Flash Thompson, level one access.”

Everyone else went through the scanners. To his surprise, when Ned went through, F.R.I.D.A.Y. said, “Ned Leeds, level one access. Welcome back, Ned.”

“Oh, hi, F.R.I.D.A.Y.”

She did the same for MJ, prompting several questions from the class and especially Flash, all of which MJ ignored. Thankfully, Sarah didn’t ask about it.

“How does the — F.R.I.D.A.Y. know you?” Betty asked him, Abe and Cindy both listening in.

“Uh, just cuz I’ve been to the Tower before. With Peter, y’know.” Ned hoped he wasn’t sweating too much.

“Wow, you never told me! That’s so cool—”

Sarah cut her off. “Great! Now that we’re all through security, I’ll give you a layout for today. Since the press conference doesn’t begin until 11 am, and we’ve got an hour and a half until then, we’ll go up and look through some of the department offices and basic labs. After the press conference, we’ll grab lunch, and head up to a few of the higher security labs. You guys will have the chance to speak to some of our college interns and see their projects. And finally, we’ll have a surprise at the end of the day. Sound good?”

With a resounding “yeah” from the Midtown class, Sarah turned around and led them to the elevators.

\---

_Group chat: brainless idiots + MJ_

_9:23 am_

_guy in the chair:_ hey!! Just got thru security 

_guy in the chair:_ the tour guide says we’ll be seeing the intern labs after lunch

 _guy in the chair:_ please tell me ur gonna b there Peter

 _MJ:_ Honestly, at this point I’m hoping you’ll be there too. Flash is getting more obnoxious than usual.

 _peter-man:_ ok, fine I’ll try to b there 

_peter-man:_ everything good?

 _guy in the chair:_ besides the part where some random tv lady wanted to interview us yea

 _guy in the chair:_ also Peter the lobby is full of ppl 

_guy in the chair:_ there’s literally youtube vloggers going to the conference

 _peter-man:_ wait what a tv interview?

 _MJ:_ Don’t sweat it, I told her off. Although everyone on the internet is going to be wilding about how rude I am now.

 _peter-man:_ oh man, that sucks. I’m sorry 

_peter-man:_ it must suck to have me as a friend aha

 _peter-man:_ but If anyone says anything against you I’ll destroy them on Twitter

 _guy in the chair:_ Peter: I’m a terrible friend

also peter: i will protect u to my dYinG bReATh

 _MJ:_ Well put.

 _MJ:_ Now go get ready for this press conference, it’s gonna be great.

 _peter-man:_ mmhmm 

Peter had made himself another nest of webs by the ceiling in the lab. For some reason, cocooning himself with webs was calming, in a way. But he figured he must have been much more stressed than he’d thought initially, because the last time he’d made a nest like this — when was it? — he’d been locked in the Tower like Rapunzel because the media was literally stalking him, under the impression that he was actually Peter Stark.

It felt like a lifetime ago when he’d been Peter Parker, the nobody. Someone the media didn’t know or care about. How in the world had he become an Internet personality — an influencer, as the newest tabloids were calling him — in so little time? His life had been totally flipped upside down.

It was a fact he was constantly reminded of, every time he opened Twitter or Instagram or even Googled his own name — something he was zealously avoiding now that he knew the consequences. Besides the ubiquitous paparazzi pictures of him and MJ and Ned, and the photoshopped pictures of him and Spider-Man, which had spread to every nook and cranny on the internet, Google now returned memes with his face (which he didn’t really mind and actually found funny sometimes), fan pages and edits (which he tried to ignore), and fanfiction and fanart of #spideyparker (most of which made him wildly uncomfortable). There were the haters, of course — all the homophobes had literally one line they reused in argument: “you’re going to hell”. And then there were the thirst tweets and DMs — the numerous messages from strangers, several of them more than twice his age, sexualizing him.

As if he needed that. 

As if he _wanted_ it.

It was worse for his actual account, but the Spider-Man one received a fair amount too.

Buzzfeed hadn’t reached out to him to ask if he would do a “thirst tweets” episode on YouTube, but he suspected they’d be right on it as soon as he turned eighteen. As would several other shows. 

Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of tweets directed at him were really nice and respectful. Unfortunately, the rotten ones stuck out like sore thumbs and itched at the back of his mind. 

He’d found Instagram to be better in terms of avoiding messages he didn’t want. Peter had gotten Harley’s Instagram last week and followed him. Thankfully, Harley’s was private, so his Instagram didn’t skyrocket in followers, although his Twitter was a different story. 

Harley hadn’t seemed to mind it. He’d already gotten a massive following after Mr. Stark tweeted him back during the whole “Peter Parker or Stark?” mess. But Peter had a nasty growing feeling that if he came to New York and people started taking pictures of him and sharing them, he might change his mind.

Peter opened his phone again, seeing that neither MJ or Ned had texted back. They were probably focused on the tour — Ned especially.

Hoping he didn’t regret it, he opened Spider-Man’s Twitter.

Spider-Man ✓ @SpiderManOfficial

Just your friendly neighborhood web-slinger. 

97 tweets 112 following 3.1M followers

Spidey’s No1 Fan @SpideysNo1Fan

@SpiderManOfficial IS GETTING CROWNED AN AVENGER TODAY!! CONGRATS!! #avengers #spiderman #spideyisawesome #ilovespiderman

Spider or Die @spidermanismyfavoritehero

BIGGEST CONGRATS TO @SpiderManOfficial! WE LOVE YOU <3 <3 #spiderman #avengersteam #avengers

Trent @DontTrentMe11

I can finally sleep at night knowing that @SpiderManOfficial is our newest avenger and has our backs #spideyforever

Betty @butter_brant

So excited to see Spiderman become an avenger @StarkIndustries today! [starktowerlobby.jpg]

Cindy Moon @MoonMoonMoon

@butter_brant @peterwithab @SpiderManOfficial rt it’s AVENGER SPIDEY TIME WOOT !!! 

New York Daily News ✓ @NYDailyNews

Congrats and best of luck to @SpiderManOfficial in becoming the newest #Avenger today!

Eyewitness News ✓ @ABC7NY

Read and watch Spider-Man become an Avenger LIVE today on our website! #avengers #spiderman

Peter Parker @ilovepeterparker

@SpiderManOfficial GOOD LUCK WITH THE CONFERENCE TODAY!!! 

Avengers Fan @ILoveBlackWidowwe

So excited for Spider-Man to officially join the Avengers team today!! :D #ilovespiderman #avengers #theworldsmightiestheroes

Harley Keener @tonystarkbrokeintomygarage

Good luck w the press conference today, @SpiderManOfficial :)

Peter clicked off his phone and slung down from the web nest into the lab, smiling. Social media sucked, but maybe, just maybe, the good people could more than make up for it.

\---

The PR offices, in MJ’s opinion, were actually pretty dull. The Human Resources offices were much better, especially after they got to hear from a representative about Stark Industries’ various protection clauses and employment policies that prevented discrimination in hiring and donated millions to foundations dedicated to civil rights protections. Unsurprisingly, MJ was the only one who sat through the presentation without getting bored. So much for social activism, Midtown. Woo. Go tigers.

MJ wanted to stay behind and talk to the HR representative after her presentation, but Sarah quickly whisked them away and into the elevators again. Finally, they would get to see some STEM labs — which, for a school like Midtown, was the center of focus.

Ned had wandered off with Betty to inspect some of the engineering physics projects, while MJ strayed over to the biological engineering side. Several panels on the wall talked about the super soldier serum that had made Steve Rogers into Captain America, and how Stark Industries continued to work on serums to this day. Not exactly smart, MJ mused, after the whole fiasco that had happened with the Red Skull guy during World War II. These billionaires never learned.

Soon enough, though, Sarah was herding them back to the elevators to go to the press conference. Flash, who had finally shut up and said nothing about Peter while the group roamed the labs, was back at it again.

“Bet Parker won’t even be at the conference he said he was missing school for. What kind of internship requires someone to attend their press conferences?” He let out a curt laugh.

MJ turned to him. “Why are you so worried about Peter anyway, Flash? You got a crush on him?”

Ned, who hadn’t been paying attention and had been talking with Betty, turned around with his mouth agape. He glanced between MJ and Flash, a grin slowly spreading across his face, as the latter sputtered in answer to MJ.

“A — a crush? — pfft, that’s ridiculous. I just want people to realize what a liar Parker is.” 

Abe cut in. “Come on, man, we all know Peter actually has an internship. You’ve seen all the Twitter stuff.”

“Yeah, did you miss the whole Peter Stark scandal?” Cindy added.

Flash muttered something unintelligible and looked at the floor of the elevator, ears pink. MJ smirked to herself. Finally. And who knew he’d back off so quick if confronted?

The elevator doors opened, and there was a deafening surge of noise from the lobby. There were tons more people than there had been a mere hour ago — and plenty of them weren’t reporters or even YouTube stars. They held up signs with “congrats Spidey!” and Spider-Man masks brashly painted over them in red and blue. 

“Is that —?” Ned started.

“A Spider-Man fan horde? Yep.”

“Whoa. I didn’t realize so many people loved Spider-Man,” Cindy commented. 

Betty responded, her eyebrows furrowed. “It must be because of all the media coverage from Spider-Man recently. I don’t think they’re all here for Spidey, though. Look at that girl’s sign.” She pointed at a sign with blaring red letters: _#spideyparker 4ever._ Next to it was a photo that MJ recognized as one of the photoshopped pictures of Peter and his alter ego.

“God, this field trip is wild,” Cindy said, holding her phone up to take a picture of the sign. “If only Peter was here to see it.”

MJ internally sighed. Thank god the fan horde wouldn’t be let into the conference. But it might be best for Peter to break up with Spider-Man, and soon. 

_Fuck, why’d I promise no more letters to Buzzfeed?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wasn’t planning on turning the end of this chapter into a commentary on social media and how toxic it can be, but one of the comments I got for the last chapter made me think of it and I thought it was worth mentioning. Social media plays a big part in this story just as it does in our lives, and it’s not always all good. This won’t be the end of that. Anyway. Hope y’all are enjoying the start of summer (or winter, depending on where you are). This part should be done before pride month. :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A press conference, Flash gets his ass handed to him verbally, and the field trip surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With everything horrible going on in our world right now, I hope this chapter brings y’all just a lil bit of joy. (Also, if you haven’t seen yesterday’s SpaceX/NASA launch… go watch it!) Thank you guys for all the amazing support, kudos and comments :)

**_April 22, 2017 -_ ** **FRIDAY**

Peter hopped around, shaking out his legs and arms. The Iron Spider suit was doing absolutely jack shit in terms of quieting the roar of people behind the door, all of them waiting for Spider-Man to come out and be knighted as their newest Avenger.

He’d purposefully left his phone turned face-down as he put on the Iron Spider suit again and came down to the conference room in the private back elevator. After seeing pictures on Twitter and the news of the masses of Spider-Man (and Peter Parker) fans that had camped out in Stark Tower’s lobby, he’d decided he shouldn’t psych himself out anymore.

Aha. As if that was gonna work.

The last message he’d received on his phone was from Aunt May, who had come to the Tower for the press conference (Ms. Potts had arranged for her to come in just in case, even though Peter had insisted he’d be fine).  _ I’ll be in the back of the audience in case anything happens.  _

_ Aunt May, you didn’t have to take off work for this. I’ll be fine. _

_ Yeah, but you thought I was gonna miss my Peter becoming an Avenger? I’d never. _

Her words, as they always did, had brought a sort of consolation that Peter rarely found anywhere else. Although, he did kind of wish she’d been allowed backstage with him before he went out.

Right now, Peter was in the back, behind closed doors, waiting as the clock ticked ever closer to the eleven o’clock mark.

“There you are,” said a familiar voice. Peter turned to find Ms. Potts approaching him, serious as ever, her long strawberry hair in a tight bun. “Are you ready? Doing okay?”

Peter nodded, unable to form any words for some reason. A lump had formed in his throat.

Ms. Potts smiled at him. “You’re going to be great, okay? And I have to admit, that suit looks really good.”

He nodded again. “At least no one will be able to reach over and just yank my mask off. That’d be… bad.”

She raised an eyebrow, probably hearing the tension in his voice. “Either way, remember how we went through what you’re going to do. It’s not your first time doing this.”

“Yeah, but it’s my first time as  _ Spider-Man _ , Ms. Potts.”

She put a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, give me a deep breath.”

He did. Her hand rubbed a comforting pattern into his shoulder, and for a second Peter could almost imagine that it was Aunt May there. 

“You have  _ got  _ this, Spider-Man.”

Mr. Stark poked his head out from a door behind them. “How’re we doing, we good? We ready? Rhodey’s calming the crowd, but I don’t know how long we have.”

Peter nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be, Mr. Stark.”

“Alright, come on. Let’s go show the world our newest Avenger.”

Peter bounced on the balls of his feet again before following Mr. Stark out the door. The noise was so  _ loud  _ out here, until Ms. Potts walked on stage and motioned for the crowd to silence. There was a chorus of clapping and the room grew much quieter.

“Thank you all for coming today. I may not be part of the Avengers team, but it is my honor as CEO of Stark Industries to welcome our newest Avenger onto the team today. Unfortunately, many of the rest of the team are at the Avengers compound upstate, and cannot be here today. Nonetheless, they are all proud of what the team has grown to be.

“It’s my honor to bring out the newest member of the Avengers team, Spider-Man!”

Peter, shaking himself once more, hopped up and walked — more like jogged, honestly — onto the stage at the cue. There was an uproar of clapping and cheering.  _ Oh my god, oh my god. Jesus.  _

The crowd was more people than honestly should have been able to fit in the whole of Stark Tower — reporters with cameras rolling and microphones in hands, journalists, cameras flashing and taking pictures, and a general array of people from the public. It was more than enough to overwhelm anyone, even with the filtering capabilities of the mask. 

Peter let his eyes roam briefly over the crowd before spotting the small group of students that was Midtown Tech’s field trip.  _ Please don’t recognize my voice, please.  _ Tony had told him that he’d integrated a small voice modifier into the suit, but still. What if?

Peter scanned his eyes through the crowd once more, trying and failing to find May amongst the throng of people. 

_ Speech. Remember your speech.  _

Thank god he’d prepared something. Now to hope he didn’t forget it. 

“Hey guys!” The sound from the crowd died down. “Thank you to Ms. Potts for hosting this press conference, and thank you to you guys for coming out!” He paused.  _ Dear fucking lord there are so many eyes on me right now. _

_ Come on, Spider-Man. Remember what Ms. Potts said. _

And he didn’t know why, but as soon as he picked a spot on the far wall, over the audience’s heads, and focused on it like Ms. Potts had told him to, it was easy to slip into Spider-Man’s persona.

“As most of you know, I started in Queens. I was just a kid trying to protect the people in my neighborhood. Someone once told me that with great power comes great responsibility. I created Spider-Man to fulfill that. I’m super lucky to have gotten the chance to work with the Avengers and then travel to help fix the Sokovia Accords in Geneva. I never thought I’d land where I am today when I started swinging around Queens. But I’m super grateful to the whole Avengers team for accepting me as their new member. And thank you guys, again, for the heaps of support.”

Ms. Potts nodded at him as he stepped away from the microphone briefly and the crowd applauded and cheered again. “Spider-Man will be taking a limited amount of questions, now, from both reporters and the public.”

The torrent of questions that were shot at him as soon as she’d finished talking felt like he was being shot at with several dozen semi-automatic machine guns. He couldn’t understand  _ anything.  _

To be fair, he’d experienced this when he’d done the press conference to convince everyone he  _ wasn’t  _ Peter Stark, but those questions had been mostly directed at Mr. Stark, not him.

He regained his composure and pointed at someone random in the audience. 

“We know that your identity is not being revealed due to your age. How old are you, Spider-Man?”

Peter almost rolled his eyes at the predictability. He’d expected this question, but not as the  _ first fucking thing.  _

“Sorry, can’t answer that. What’s the point of a secret identity otherwise?”

The crowd started yelling out questions again. He pointed at another reporter.

“What can you tell us about your relationship with Peter Parker?”

He sighed. Goddamnit. “I will not be answering any questions about Peter and I. Are there any questions concerning the Avengers?” He pointed at someone else.

“Tell us about the suit!”

“Oh, do you like it?” He gave the audience a turn. “I won’t be wearing this most of the time, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy when it comes to more dangerous Avengers missions. It’s called the Iron Spider.”

“Does that mean you’re going to be the next Iron Man?”

Peter laughed hesitantly. “No, Mr. Stark will continue to be Iron Man.”

For the next question, he made sure to point at someone in Midtown’s group. Betty took up the chance. 

“Hey, so I was —” 

She was cut off as Flash pushed her away and spoke up. “Spider-Man, why are you with Peter Parker of —”

Peter cut Flash off for maybe the first time in his life. “Excuse me, I pointed at the young lady, not you.”

The look on Flash’s face was fucking  _ priceless. Oh please tell me you got that on camera, Ned. _

Betty looked elated. “I wanted to know if you’d be willing to do a segment on our morning announcements at Midtown Tech.”

Peter shrugged. Now that he hadn’t been expecting. “I’m sure that can be arranged. Betty Brant, right?”

She nodded, blushing.  _ Who knew Betty had a crush on Spider-Man? What the fuck. _

“Peter’s told me about you, nice to meet you. Yeah, I’d love to do a video for you!” He turned back to the audience, making a point to deliberately ignore Flash as he raised his hand. “Any more questions?”

Once again, the shouted questions came, but this time he was ready for them.

\---

The press conference was over rather quickly. “I’d like to thank you guys again for coming out. If you ever catch me swinging, I’ll be happy to take a selfie with you!”

Ms. Potts stepped up to the microphone. “Thank you all for attending and seeing our spider hero become the next Avenger. There will be no more questions at this time, but you can forward any further questions or comments to the PR team at Stark Industries or the Avengers. Thank you.”

And just like that, it was over. Peter skipped backstage as the room began emptying. Once he was in the back with just Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts, he turned off the mask. The nanoparticles disassembled into the rest of the suit. (To be honest, it felt weird. Peter didn’t like not being able to physically rip his mask off.)

“That was  _ fantastic,  _ kid,” Mr. Stark said. “You killed it. Wanna take my place for future Avengers press conferences?”

Peter laughed and shook his head. “Nah, I’m good, Mr. Stark. I think that’s enough for maybe my whole life.”

Pepper was nodding at her. “That was really well done, Peter. I’m proud of you.”

Just then, the door opened. The mask rematerialized almost instinctively, without Peter doing anything, then disassembled again when he saw who it was.

“Aunt May!” 

She rushed forward to him, enveloping him in a hug, as Happy closed the door behind them and stood a ways away.. “Oh, Peter, I’m so proud of you. When did you become such a smooth-talker?”

He laughed, ignoring the random tears that had sprung into his eyes. “I was shaking the whole time, couldn’t you see?”

“Nope, not at all.” She hugged him tighter before letting him go. “And jeez, this suit is cool! I gotta admit, Stark, you outdid yourself.”

“Kid deserves it.” He shot Peter a wink.

Aunt May stopped inspecting the suit. “So, what’s the plan, hm? Are you gonna intercept your class when they see the labs?”

“Yeah, I think so. Ned really wants me to. Plus, I gotta see how they all reacted to Flash being brushed off like that.”

May laughed and Tony turned to him. “ _ That  _ was Flash, the kid who’s constantly bugging you?”

Peter started. “How did you know about that?”

“Bold of you to assume I don’t keep tabs, Mr. Parker. That kid’s gonna get an earful.”

“No, Mr. Stark, please don’t. It’s fine. Plus, I think he’ll leave me be after getting dissed like that.”

Tony squinted at him and crossed his arms. “I’m watching him.”

Pepper laughed. “Just don’t tell the rest of the team. Natasha would probably kill him in his sleep.”

“Oh, I have no doubt. Maybe I’ll tip her off.”

“Mr.  _ Starkkk!” _

Mr. Stark gave him a smile and reached up to ruffle Peter’s hair. “Go on, young buck. Have fun with your class. Don’t let Ted touch anything.”

“Come on, that was one time!”

May glanced between them. “What did Ned do?”

Mr. Stark leveled her with a gaze. “Only hacked a multi-billion dollar Spider-Man suit to turn off the tracker.”

May scoffed. “How good can you be if a high schooler hacked that?”

“Hey —”

Pepper cut in. “She’s not wrong.” Mr. Stark gave her a wounded look.

Peter materialized the mask again and skipped backwards towards the door to the private elevator. “Okay… I’ll see you later, May! Thank you, Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark. Bye Happy!”

Happy grunted from the back of the room.

\---

_ Group chat: brainless idiots + MJ _

_ 12:31 pm _

_ guy in the chair:  _ that was SO COOL PETER

_ guy in the chair:  _ the new suit? the q and a? You’re an avenger? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN

_ MJ:  _ Plus, you destroyed Flash. He’s been sitting angrily by himself and hasn’t said anything all of lunch.

_ MJ:  _ [flash.jpg]

_ guy in the chair:  _ please tell me you’ll come up to the labs?

_ guy in the chair:  _ i am A REAL LIFE FRIEND OF AN AVENGER

_ guy in the chair:  _ MJ HOW ARE U NOT EXCITED ABT THIS

_ MJ:  _ They’re overrated, Ned. 

_ guy in the chair:  _ how DARE u

_ peter-man:  _ yea ill be there in the labs

_ peter-man:  _ haeding up now

_ MJ:  _ *heading

_ peter-man:  _ also does that mean flash is gonna kiill me even more

_ peter-man:  _ im p sure mr stark wants to kiill flash

_ guy in the chair:  _ peter why are u spelling kill with two is 

_ peter-man:  _ uh autocorrect?

_ guy in the chair:  _ also have u seen twitter

_ peter-man:  _ lemme guess it blew up. again

_ MJ:  _ Yeah, everyone loves you. Not much different there. 

_ MJ:  _ Looks like you charmed the pants off of everyone at the press conference.

_ peter-man:  _ ew why would u say that

_ peter-man:  _ anyway ill b in lab 7712A most likely. Im sure u guys will see it its a chem lab w interns

_ MJ:  _ Also, Peter, we should talk about you breaking up with Spider-Man.

_ peter-man:  _ um what

_ peter-man:  _ mj r u good

_ guy in the chair:  _ yea wtf why everythings going great

_ MJ:  _ I’ll talk to you both tonight about it. 

_ peter-man:  _ im-

_ peter-man:  _ that’s so ominous

_ Text from: Her Royal Grace _

_ 12:38 pm _

_ Her Royal Grace:  _ I see the press conference went well

_ Her Royal Grace:  _ i have taught you well young spiderling

_ Her Royal Grace:  _ too tragic I couldnt be there to witness it myself

_ peter-man:  _ uh huh ok yep it was all u i would b dead if u hadnt helped

_ Her Royal Grace:  _ [whyareyourunnin.vine]

_ peter-man:  _ [ihavethepowerofgodandanimeonmyside.vine]

_ Her Royal Grace:  _ yr so weird

_ Her Royal Grace:  _ still broken white boy #2

_ peter-man:  _ :,(

\---

When he walked into lab 7712A, carrying a box with his half-finished web fluid beaker from this morning and various chemicals, it was bustling and busy as usual. He plopped over to the empty workstation he used if he ever came down here, nodding to Henry, who worked one station over. “Hey, Henry.”

“Hey, Peter. No school today?” the blonde asked, leaning back in his chair to talk to Peter.

He was interrupted as Sandy came over to Peter as he carefully unpacked the tubes and glass containers. “Odd for you to come work down here.”

“Hello to you too! How has your day been?”

Sandy rolled her eyes. “It’s been a bit busy. We’re cleaning up the lab because we’ve got a tour group coming through in a half-hour or so.”

“Yeah, that’s my high school.”

Henry laughed. “So you’re ditching school on a field trip? Man, enjoy those, you don’t get any after high school’s over.”

Sandy pushed her goggles up, also laughing. “Why aren’t you with them?”

“Maybe because I work here and didn’t want to get a tour of the Tower.” He said it only half-sarcastically.

“I’m guessing you went to the press conference?”

He looked at the two of them guiltily. “Yeah. I was backstage while Spidey went out.” 

“Ah, ever the supportive boyfriend. And then you made out when he came back?”

Peter swatted at her, but Sandy dodged his hand. “Shut up.”

Henry spoke up, setting down his utensils on the table. “Well, some of us have actual  _ regular  _ schedules as interns, so we couldn’t ditch to go see the conference. How was it?”

“Pretty regular, actually,” he said, shrugging. “I thought there was going to be some weird cult-like ceremony to ‘induct’ him into the Avengers or something, but it was more of an announcement than anything. And then all the questions.”

Sandy quirked an eyebrow. “I’m sure people asked about our beautiful #spideyparker?”

Peter groaned softly. “Yeah, but thankfully he diverted those questions. He had a whole new suit for the conference. It’s gonna be his Avengers mission suit, I guess.”

“We’ll have to watch it on YouTube later. So, what brings you down here? I would’ve guessed you wanted to ditch seeing your class?”

Peter, grateful for the change in subject, pointed to the box he’d brought down from Mr. Stark’s lab. “Mr. Stark wanted me to show some of the Spidey tech.”

Henry frowned. “I thought that was super confidential?”

“I’m not gonna give them the web formulas or anything.”

“How has that been going, anyway? Haven’t you been working on the fluid?” Sandy asked.

“Yeah, trying to up its tensile strength and other small modifications. I have a new batch in here, hoping I can do some tests on it this afternoon.” He pulled out the flask of the slightly green web fluid from this morning. 

“Oh, wow. Is that  _ green _ ?”

“Spider-Man’s gonna kill you if you ruin his color scheme, Peter.”

“Nah, Sandy, he loves him too much.”

Peter ignored them. “Is there anything you need help with for setting up for the tour, then?”

“I think we’re all good,” Sandy said, “but thanks. Have fun fixing your green spiderwebs, I have to get back to work.”

Peter fistbumped her before turning back. Henry was still watching him.

“How’s your research been going?”

“Pretty good, actually,” Henry said, scooting his chair back towards his desk and resuming his work. “I’m probably going to be talking to your class about it. You should stop by sometime in the next few weeks if you want to help me out.”

“For sure!” Peter smiled as he finished unpacking his box and set to writing down observations about the newest web fluid.

Midtown arrived at the lab within the next twenty minutes. Peter had become so focused on testing the web fluid — he’d strung it out in multiple places over his workstation to test the tensile strength and other properties, so it looked like a web cartridge had exploded all over the desk — that he didn’t realize when they walked in, the door dinging as F.R.I.D.A.Y. let them in.

Not, at least, until Ned had come over to his workstation and poked him in the side. “Oh my god, is that web fluid? Are you going to explain how it works? Can I  _ touch  _ it?”

Peter jumped back and lifted his own goggles, startled. “Whoa, hey, Ned! No, please don’t touch it. I… think I lost track of time.”

“This has to be the coolest lab we’ve seen! I mean, I don’t really like chemistry, but this is so  _ cool _ .” 

Peter turned around in his chair as Ned kept talking, only to see the rest of the Midtown class wandering around the lab. Most of them hadn’t spotted him yet. MJ was making a beeline to his work station. “You’ve got like four seconds before Flash asks about you.”

It was more like two seconds. Peter’s sensitive ears easily heard when Flash asked Sandy, who had taken over the tour for the moment, “Is it true Peter Parker works here?”

And Sandy, ever the traitor, turned and pointed towards Peter. “Yep, there he is! He’s currently doing some experiments on the newest version of Spider-Man’s webs."

A mere few seconds later, Peter found himself surrounded by the entire class. Almost all of them were  _ way  _ over the yellow line marked on the tile floor. 

Peter stood up, awkwardly. “Hey, guys. Um, you gotta be behind the yellow line… could you all just move back a bit?”

He was startled as, almost synchronously, they all scooted back before the tips of their toes were on the yellow line.  _ Well, that’s a first.  _

“Whoa, Peter, are those Spider-Man’s webs?” Abe asked, staring in wonder at the mess that was Peter’s station. 

“Is this where you work?”

“I thought you worked with Tony Stark!”

Flash was standing at the very front of the group, looking  _ wildly  _ angry. 

Peter glanced to his left, where Henry had abandoned his work in favor of watching him with an amused look. 

He was about to speak up, not sure what to say, when Mr. Harrington of all people saved him. “Wow, hey Peter. Looks like you’ve got a cool experiment there. Okay, guys, we need to disperse, and ask the other interns some questions.”

“Um, that’s okay, Mr. Harrington, I can answer a few questions.” Peter awkwardly stood to the side and gestured to his work station. “This is… yeah, this is my workstation. Uh, it’s kind of a mess right now because I’m doing some tests on the webs I fabricate for Spider-Man.”

“Why are they  _ green _ ?” Betty asked, leaning forward.

“So, I’m trying to develop them to be stronger without being thicker, and I think I added a bit too much of the copper chloride.”

“What other stuff is in the webs?” 

“I uh, I can’t tell you that, just for legal reasons.”

“Oh my god, Peter, do you have a black badge? Sarah told us those were reserved for people with access to the  _ whole building  _ —!”

“I thought you usually worked with Tony Stark, in his lab?” Cindy asked, raising her phone to take a picture. Thankfully, Peter had flipped all of his formula sheets and notes upside down.

Peter bashfully looked at the gold-trimmed black badge clipped to his jeans. “Well, I do work with Mr. Stark in his personal lab a lot, that’s why I have a high access pass, otherwise I couldn’t get in. And —”

Henry interrupted him. “Peter only comes down here sometimes. He helps me with my research a fair amount, but other than that he’s usually up in Stark’s lab, like he said.”

Fourteen pairs of eyes turned to Henry. “I work on organic polymers. I can answer some questions, if you guys don’t mind leaving poor Peter alone.”

Peter shot him a grateful look as several girls walked over to Henry’s station, blushing and giggling. Several other classmates looked bashful and slowly meandered away to other stations.

Flash, though, stayed put, arms crossed and eyebrows scrunched so angrily he looked like he had a monobrow for a second. This guy was  _ fuming.  _

“What’s so cool about a bunch of webs, anyway, Parker? I bet you didn’t even make them in the first place. I bet you just took them from Spider-Man and are using them to make yourself look cool.”

MJ sighed so loudly Peter almost wondered if it was really her. 

“Like I’ve said before, I copied his webs and that’s what got me the internship, Flash.”

“Yeah, except you’re not deserving of a fucking  _ Stark Industries  _ internship _ ,  _ Penis.”

“Sorry, what’d you call him?”

Every single head in the room turned at the voice. Tony Stark himself had somehow gotten into the lab without drawing the attention of Sandy, the tour guide, or any of the interns. He walked over to Peter’s station, where Flash stood straight as a ramrod. “Just came down to check in on how those webs were coming along, Peter.”

Even Sandy’s mouth was hanging open. 

“Um… um, yeah, it’s going okay, Mr. Stark. It’s definitely increased in tensile strength but there’s some factors I’m trying to work through…”

“Like the green?” Tony said with a chuckle, clapping a slightly dazed Peter on the shoulder. “Eh, I don’t think Spider-Man will mind too much. Now, who was insulting interns just now when I walked in?”

No one pointed, or even gestured at Flash, but Tony narrowed in on him. “I’m pretty sure our tour guides tell tour groups to be respectful to all Stark Industries employees, young man. What’s your name, again?”

“Flash, sir,” Flash squeaked. The guy looked like he was actively shitting himself.

“Well, I don’t want to have to remind you again to be respectful of our employees. Don’t want to destroy a chance at getting an internship here yourself, I’m sure.” Tony’s tone was light and joking but his eyes, Peter could see, were dead serious.

“No, sir. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” He clapped his hands, and Flash flinched. “Anyway, I’m glad everyone is having a good time looking around the Tower! I have to get going, but don’t let me being here stop you from working!”

He winked at Peter, a look that said  _ we’ll talk later,  _ patted Peter on the shoulder again, and with that, left. Mr. Harrington unsuccessfully tried to stop him on his way out of the glass-walled lab.

“Oh my god, did Tony Stark just —”

Abe was laughing. “Flash, my man, you got owned  _ worse  _ than with Spidey!”

Flash was muttering under his breath as he glanced at Peter — only his enhanced hearing let him hear the “Sorry, Parker” before Flash quickly walked away from his workstation and to the other side of the lab.

After that, a few more people came and asked Peter several questions about the webshooters and webs slung across his desk, and “I thought you liked physics more, do you do any physics experiments?”

To which he responded, most of his work with the webs and webshooters was chemical physics. So yes. 

Flash didn’t come back. Peter’s face, he was sure, was red as a tomato from the visit from Mr. Stark, even long after he’d left. MJ and Ned, after seeing other experiments, came back to his station. 

“Well, this has been an interesting field trip for sure.”

Peter shook his head at MJ’s comment, and lowered his voice so Henry couldn’t hear. “I hate field trips. I got bit by a fucking spider on the last one. And now I had to talk to everyone about my webs.”

MJ pinched his cheek. “Poor Peter. How will you survive?”

“At least it’s over now, right?”

Ned tore his eyes off of Henry’s computer screen, which displayed enlarged 3D models of his polymers. “No, Sarah said we had a surprise at the end of the tour.”

“Oh, I thought that was meeting Stark.”

“No, he wasn’t planning on coming down,” Peter said. “Hm. I wonder what —” 

The tour guide, Sarah, spoke up from the door to lab 7712A. “Okay, Midtown Tech, we’re approaching the end of the day. It’s time to leave the lab, and we’re going to see the final surprise I told you guys about earlier today.” Peter was just contemplating if he should come when she said, “Mr. Parker, we’d be very glad to have you come with us.”

Well, that was weird. What was this surprise? 

“Um, sure.” He spent the last few minutes as the class left the lab to clean up his workspace and lock the webs, notes and all in the drawer under his station. “I’ll be back for this later,” he said to Henry, who nodded.

“That was fun. Bring your class around more often, Peter.” Henry winked and turned back to his computer.

Peter left the lab and caught up with the tour group as they reached the elevators. Sarah pulled him off to the side. “I was hoping you could help with this last segment of the tour. We’re going up to floors 79 to 83. We don’t all fit in the elevators, so if you could help get access to those upper levels for a second elevator…”

“Oh, sure,” Peter said. Floors 79 to 83 — that was the old Avengers living quarters. “I’ve never actually been up to those floors.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not asking you to lead a tour. Just to help get security access in the elevators.” She smiled. Peter nodded; it was the least he could do. And besides, he was curious what those old living quarters actually looked like.

Sarah turned back to the group. “Okay, since we don’t all fit into the elevators that go further up, we’re going to go in two groups. Mr. Parker will take half of you up, and I’ll take the other half.”

Instantly, almost the whole class clung to Peter. He counted out seven people — MJ and Ned among them and Flash not. “Sorry, guys,” he said to the rest of them. “You’re gonna have to go with Sarah.”

They got in the first elevator. F.R.I.D.A.Y. instantly greeted them. “Hello, Peter. Hello, Midtown Tech.”

“Take us up to 79, Fri.” There were no buttons in the upper elevators, so no one without clearance from F.R.I.D.A.Y. could go up.

Half of Peter’s group gaped in wonder at how comfortably he talked to the AI. “Sure thing, Peter. Would you like me to alert Mr. Stark?”

“Uh, no, Fri. Just a tour group thing.”   


Betty, who was again clinging to Ned, spoke up. “How far up is Tony Stark’s lab, Peter?”

“Um, so his lab is on floor 85, just under the penthouse where Mr. Stark lives.”

“Do we get to go there?”

“Sorry, Betty, I don’t think so. The stuff in his lab is  _ really  _ high security clearance.”

“So where are we going?” Cindy asked.

“You’ll see! I’m not about to give up a surprise.”

The elevator dinged and opened to a wide open floor. “Whoa, where are we?”

Sarah’s elevator arrived moments after. “Welcome to the old Avengers living quarters, everyone! While the Avengers do not live here anymore, they did after the Battle of New York and through Sokovia before moving to a new compound upstate. You are free to look around, but please do  _ not  _ take pictures or any videos here. If you are found taking pictures, F.R.I.D.A.Y. is very good at scanning through phones and deleting such pictures. She will also alert us and you will have to go back down to the lobby and wait for your class there. Feel free to ask me questions as you wander around! You won’t have access to the Avengers’ old rooms, but most everything else you can look around.”

Everyone dispersed easily. Peter hesitated. It felt weird to walk around this place that the Avengers had once inhabited, especially now that he knew them personally. It didn’t feel as much like sacred land as it had before. But it still felt odd, like he was invading their privacy in walking around the place they used to cohabit. 

Especially once he realized that it looked a  _ lot  _ like the penthouse itself. There was more room, and the living room was larger, but… in all essence, it looked like the place where Peter had his own bedroom.

Not that he was about to tell anyone he had a literal bedroom in Tony Stark’s penthouse. They’d really get onto him about being Peter Stark if he said something like that. 

Instead of walking around, Peter hung by the elevator. MJ joined him after a few minutes. “It looks like the penthouse, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

“Is that why you’re standing morosely by the elevator?”

“What? No. I just don’t want to look around. Also, it’s not like I can’t look around anytime I want.”

MJ shrugged and pulled a book out of her satchel. “Whatever you say.”

A while later, Sarah had effectively corralled Midtown Tech back by the elevators. Everyone was loudly talking to each other as they went back down in the elevators, all the way back down to the lobby. Peter said goodbye to MJ and Ned (they still had to go back to school, ha, suckers) before getting back in the elevator and going to lab 7712A to pick up his box of Spider-Man tech to return to Mr. Stark’s lab. The intern lab was emptying out, as it was nearing the end of the day, as he walked out with his box and hopped into the elevator. 

But before he asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to head to the lab, she said, “Boss has asked for you to go to level 84.”

“Why?” Peter frowned. There wasn’t really anything on floor 84. It was just below Mr. Stark’s lab.

She sounded amused when she said, “You’ll see.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y. indeed dropped him off on level 84. Mr. Stark was waiting as the elevator opened.

“Mr. Stark? What’s —” And then Peter caught sight of what was behind him. 

An entire lab, all new, laid out with all the same tools that were in Mr. Stark’s lab.

The man himself spoke up. “Any guesses who this might be for?” Peter was speechless. “It’s for you, kiddo. I need you to stop building web nests in my lab.”

Peter gingerly set down his box. “Are you serious? You’re kicking me out of your lab?"

“Just thought you could use more room. You can always come work with me in my lab if you want, but I figured you might want —”

Peter rushed forward and hugged him. Wow, twice in one day. That broke every record ever.

“Thank you, Mr. Stark, but… I mean, wow. Why… I mean, I’m just an intern. I’m just Spider-Man.”

Mr. Stark quirked an eyebrow at him, smiling. “How can someone who’s supposedly a genius not realize you’re clearly much more than that?”

“God, what am I even supposed to do with this much space?”

“Well, if all goes well on a few more phone calls… a certain Tennessee kid will be joining you this summer. So, really, you won’t have it all to yourself.”

“Harley?” Peter tried and failed to hide the grin that spread across his face. Mr. Stark nodded.

“Wow. Thanks, Mr. Stark. Thank you thank you!”

“Thank  _ you _ . Now I’m fairly sure you’ve earned the afternoon off. Go hang out with your weird friends.”

After several more thank yous and a half hour spent putting away the remnants of the green web fluid and notes, Peter tugged on the familiar red and blue suit. The spandex felt so much more familiar than the Iron Spider as he slung out the window and into open air.

Maybe the mask hid it, and no one saw it, but Peter didn’t stop smiling all the way back home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay,,, sue me but for some reason in my head Henry looks exactly like Finnick Odair from the Hunger Games. So Sam Claflin but blonde. I dunno why. 
> 
> Also, the Iron Spider suit is cool and all but I don't like it as much as the original red and blue so she's not gonna really come in until later ;)
> 
> Anyway thank y’all for reading and I’ll be back sometime next week with Part 4, so make sure to keep an eye out for it!


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